Lizzy Yarnold wins women's skeleton at 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to claim Great Britain's first gold medal - Telegraph Lizzy Yarnold wins women's skeleton at 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to claim Great Britain's first gold medal Lizzy Yarnold wins Britain's first gold medal at the Sochi Winter Games after claiming the women's skeleton Golden hour: Lizzy Yarnold celebrates after winning Britain's first gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday Photo: PA Follow Lizzy Yarnold blew away her rivals, gave her boyfriend a card and then gift-wrapped the perfectly rare St Valentine’s Day present of a Winter Olympics gold medal for Britain by careering head-first into history here at the Sanki Sliding Centre. From Russia with love. This was the girl from Kent who had never even heard of the sport of skeleton five years ago but who now, astonishingly, stands as the consummate champion of this daredevil Olympic discipline, having offered absolutely no love to her rivals by grinding them into the ice with a quite dominant performance.

Thirty years to the night since Torvill and Dean offered the world their matchless romantic Bolero in Sarajevo, here was a sliding sport’s equivalent; Yarnold’s almost unprecedented demonstration of superiority over her opposition. Not a row of nine sixes here; just four runs, four super slides and four wins. Just perfect. Well, nearly perfect. According to her coach, Andi Schmid, there was just one alarming moment on the victory slide. “She skidded out of corner two, made a wrong line, and was a little late going into corner three but corrected it as she has done in training. That was a little bit of a heart-attack moment but I forgive her.” Related Articles 14 Feb 2014 Yarnold wrapped herself in the union flag after winning Britian's first gold We could forgive this charming new champion anything as she explained how she had shed a few private tears. “It is lovely it is Valentine’s Day, there is lots of romance in the air,” she beamed afterwards, offering her boyfriend James Roche a card she pulled out of a bag at trackside. “I pre-planned it.” Organised and talented, then. And engineer Roche’s present to her?

Well, how about co-designing, along with Rachel Blackburn, the sled which transported her to become only Britain’s fifth ever individual champion in 90 years of the Winter Games? With all this love in the air, bubbling over with happiness in her red bobble hat, Yarnold did not exactly look like an assassin, what with her knitting, Downton Abbey and The Archers as her creature comforts. Yet once she crouched down to launch her 29kg sled – known affectionately as Mervyn, after the City benefactor Mervyn Sugden who helped her career – she offered the impression of a helmeted hit-man when it came to the biggest day of a sporting career still in its infancy. Yarnold celebrates following her victory In only her second full season on the World Cup circuit, this was the apogee of the champion’s dominance. Yarnold won by 0.97 sec after four runs hurtling down a technically difficult course with its 17 corners and three uphill sections. Over 1,500 metres too. A whole second’s gap in a sport where hundredths are the currency might just as well have been a country mile.

American silver medallist Noelle Pikus-Pace, after her final race, leapt about, celebrating her silver, but her real achievement was staying within a second of the Briton’s time. The best at starting, the best at steering and the best aerodynamic position on the sled, reckoned Amy Williams, her Bath landlady and great friend who watched her tenant destroy all-comers. To think the fear had been that somehow Yarnold might be suffocated by overnight nerves, being 0.44 sec ahead after her two runs. Instead, eerily, just like Williams’s performance in Vancouver four years earlier, the night time illumination of Sanki just seemed to embolden her. Yarnold's proud father cheered on from the stands There is a confidence and self-assuredness about Yarnold that seems almost shocking. “I was bold enough to learn a Russian term, which is. 'I’m a champion’,” she smiled, breaking into the said phrase with gusto. And a rare champion she is.

The opening run, as first out of the spur, must have been nerve-shredding but she was adamant that her days doing two-day heptathlons meant she was perfectly competent at dealing with overnight pressures and, sure enough, apart from one clip of the wall coming out of corner 11, her run was scintillating, cracking her own course record in 57.91 sec. By the end of the run Yarnold had increased her lead to an impregnable 0.78sec. She then decided to treat the final run with no pressure, “as if it was a training run”. It was the perfect denouement. Pikus-Pace, who has been struggling from sickness and herniated discs, delivered one final fine run to assure herself of the silver ahead of Russian Elena Nikitina but, even after her early mistake, Yarnold recorded the fastest time once more of 58.09 sec. Her supremacy was such that Shelley Rudman, Britain’s world champion, was 16th, some 3½ seconds behind.

So, even right at the very end of her two-day masterpiece, Yarnold was going faster than at any time, timed at 79.35mph. So another remarkable British skeleton success story had unfolded. It was on Yarnold’s first slide on a British skeleton ice camp in Lillehammer, Norway, five years ago when she reported afterwards: “I wanted to throw up.” Now she is ready to go out and reach the skeleton gospel with a gold medal round her neck. British skeleton podium places Yarnold's gold medal maintained Britain's record of reaching the podium in every Winter Games in which skeleton has been part of the programme. Skeleton was introduced in the 1928 Games on the famous Cresta Run in St Moritz. It came back when the Games returned to St Moritz 20 years later, but was then axed from the programme until 2002 in Salt Lake City. 1928: David Carnegie (bronze) Carnegie, who usually appeared in Olympic results under his title the Earl of Northesk, was a big favourite to win the inaugural Olympic skeleton title after breaking the track record on the Cresta Run.

However, Carnegie made a mistake in the first of his three heats and had to be content with a bronze medal. He later rose to the rank of major with the intelligence corps, and went on to enjoy a successful career breeding pedigree dogs. 1948: John Crammond (bronze) Crammond was a former stockbroker who regularly competed on the Cresta Run before putting his sliding career on hold to serve in the RAF in the Second World War. Crammond returned to the sport to contest the skeleton competition in the 1948 Games back in St Moritz. He led at the halfway stage before falling back to third, but still became the oldest Olympic skeleton medallist at the age of 41. 2002: Alex Coomber (bronze) Coomber, who built her first skeleton sled using skateboard wheels and door handles from disabled toilets, was world champion three times in a row prior to the sport's reintroduction in the Salt Lake City Olympics. Coomber won a bronze medal before abruptly announcing her retirement from the sport. After moving to Portugal she is now back in England and studying to be a physiotherapist.

2006: Shelley Rudman (silver) Few expected Rudman to figure in the medal shake-up in Turin, and even the Wiltshire slider herself said she would be satisfied with a top-10 finish. But after posting the fastest time in official training, expectations were raised and Rudman delivered, moving up from third place after the first run to sneak a silver medal - the only medal earned by Great Britain at the Games. 2010: Amy Williams (gold) All attention was on Rudman going into Vancouver, but British number two Williams had previously won a World Cup medal on the Whistler track and once again it proved to her liking. Williams carried her domination in training through to the race itself, leading from the first run to the last and extending her lead throughout to eventually take the gold medal by over half a second from her closest rivals. 2014: Lizzy Yarnold gold) Like Williams, Yarnold started the Olympic season under the radar after Rudman's World Championship-winning exploits last year.

But four wins from eight World Cup races soon shattered the Kent slider's anonymity and sent her into the Games as the biggest British favourite for a Winter Olympic gold since Torvill and Dean 30 years ago to the day. And Yarnold did not disappoint, breaking the track record twice on her way to gold. 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics: Women&#39;s skeleton competition ties up medal count | abc7.com See which countries rank with the Olympic medal tracker on ESPN.com Friday marked one of the warmest days at this year's games with the mercury hitting 3 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit) at the mountain-top venues. Swiss skiers earned goal medals in both the men's classical-style 15-kilometer race and the men's super-combined slalom. The haul gave the Swiss five golds, only two behind Germany. Dario Cologna won the 15-kilometer race to earn his second gold of the games. Cologna, who had ankle surgery in November, won the 30-kilometer skiathlon on Sunday.

Nineteen-year-old Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan overcame a pair of falls to become the first Asian man to win an Olympic title in men's figure skating. Sandro Viletta stunned the favorites to win the super-combined. Two top Americans, defending champ Bodie Miller and world champion Ted Ligety, failed to win a medal. Check out photos of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics competitions A look at Friday's events: FIGURE SKATING: Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu won the gold despite two falls during his free skate routine, largely because of the lead he built up with his record-setting short program. Canadian Patrick Chan, skating after Hanyu, won the silver despite three errors. World silver medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan took bronze. CROSS-COUNTRY: In men's 15km classic, Sweden's Johan Olsson captured the silver, finishing 28.5 seconds behind Switzerland's Dario Cologna. Another Swede, Daniel Richardsson, took bronze. ALPINE SKIING: In men's super combined combined slalom, Switzerland's Sandro Viletta took gold.

Viletta finished the downhill and slalom runs in a combined time of 2 minutes, 45.20 seconds. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia earned the silver and Christof Innerhofer of Italy got bronze. BIATHLON: Darya Domracheva of Belarus earned her second gold medal of the games by winning the women's 15-kilometer individual race. Domracheva, who also won the 12.5K pursuit three days ago, missed one target before finishing in 43 minutes, 19.6 seconds. Selina Gasparin of Switzerland finished 1:15.7 behind to take silver. Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus got the bronze. FREESTYLE SKIING: Alla Tsuper of Belarus pulled off a stunning upset to win gold in women's aerials. Tsuper beat a field that included defending Olympic champion Lydia Lassila of Australia and two-time Olympic medalist Li Nina of China. The 34-year-old Tsuper had never finished higher than fifth in four previous Olympics. Xu Mengtao of China won silver while Lassila earned bronze.

SKELETON: Lizzy Yarnold of Britain won gold in women's skeleton, beating rival Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States by a full second. It was Britain's first gold medal in Sochi. Winning the silver allowed Pikus-Pace to reach her goal of closing out her career with an Olympic medal. Elena Nikitina of Russia won the bronze. CURLING: China and Britain won close games in the men's tournament to move into a three-way tie with Sweden atop the 10-country field. China beat Norway 7-5, while Britain topped Denmark 8-6. In the women's tournament, China beat South Korea, Britain defeated Japan, Russia beat Switzerland, and Denmark topped the U.S., all but eliminating the Americans from the playoffs. ICE HOCKEY: Canada topped Austria 6-0 in the preliminary rounds of men's hockey. Also, Sweden beat Switzerland 1-0, the Czech Republic downed Latvia 4-2 and Finland defeated Norway 6-1.

Gold Medal Winners at the 2014 Sochi Olympics Photos | Image #1 - ABC News ABC News Gold Medal Winners at the 2014 Sochi Olympics + − Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain celebrates winning the gold medal during the women's skeleton at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Sliding Center Sanki, Feb. 14, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Alex Livesey/Getty Images Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain celebrates winning the gold medal during the women's skeleton at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Sliding Center Sanki, Feb. 14, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Alex Livesey/Getty Images Gold medalists Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany celebrate during the medal ceremony for the men's luge doubles at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza, Feb. 14, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images Japan's gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu poses after the men's figure skating flower ceremony at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 14, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images Gold medalist Alla Tsuper of Belarus celebrates during the flower ceremony for the women's freestyle skiing aerials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 14, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Gold medallist from Germany celebrate at the luge team relay flower ceremony at the Sliding Center Sanki during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Gold medalists Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia at the medal ceremony for the figure skating pairs free skating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images Gold medalist Jianrou Li of China celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women's short track speed skating 500m at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Quinn Rooney/Getty Images Gold medalist Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland stand on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women's 10 km classic at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Quinn Rooney/Getty Images Gold medalist Kaitlyn Farrington of the United States, center, celebrates during the flower ceremony for the women's snowboard halfpipe finals of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 12, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images Gold medalist Eric Frenzel of Germany jumps in celebration during the flower ceremony for the men's nordic combined at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at the RusSki Gorki Nordic Combined Skiing Stadium, Feb.

12, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Al Bello/Getty Images Gold medalist Darya Domracheva of Belarus celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women's 10 km pursuit at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza, Feb. 12, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images Louri Podladtchikov of Switzerland wins the gold medal during the men's snowboarding halfpipe at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 11, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway wins the gold medal during the cross-country men's &amp; women's sprint at the Laura Cross-country Ski &amp; Biathlon Center, Feb. 11, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Gold medalist Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway celebrates on the podium after the Men's Sprint Free competition at Laura Cross-country Ski &amp; Biathlon Center, Feb.

11, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Harry How/Getty Images Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov celebrates after winning a gold medal in the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe Final at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park during the Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 11, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images France's gold medalist Martin Fourcade and celebrates on the podium during the Men's Biathlon 12.5 km Pursuit Medal Ceremony at the Sochi medals plaza, Feb. 11, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Antonin Thullier/AFP/Getty Images Canada's gold medalist Alex Bilodeau celebrates on the podium for the Men's Freestyle Skiing Moguls final at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park during the Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2014. Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images Gold medalist Kamil Stoch of Poland celebrates during the medal ceremony for the men's ski jumping individual normal hill event at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2014.

David Gray/Reuters From left, Canada's silver medal figure skating team, Russia's gold medal figure skating team, and the United States' bronze medal figure skating team, celebrate during a medal ceremony at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 10, 2014. Morry Gash/AP Photo Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch reacts after finishing the slalom portion of the women's supercombined to win the gold medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Christophe Ena/AP Photo Charles Hamelin of Canada, right, embraces Marianne St. Gelais after he won the men's 1500m short track speedskating final at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo Gold medalist Kamil Stoch of Poland, left, celebrates during the flower ceremony for the Men's Normal Hill Individual Final on day 2 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center on February 9, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Julian Finney/Getty Images Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina crosses the finish line to win the women's biathlon 7.5k sprint, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 9, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo Felix Loch of Germany jumps onto the podium after he won the gold medal during the men's singles luge final at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 9, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Michael Sohn/AP Photo The Russian team jump onto the podium during the flower ceremony after placing first in the team figure skating competition at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb.

9, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Bernat Armangue/AP Photo Matthias Mayer of Austria takes the gold medal during the Alpine Skiing Men's Downhill at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games at Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre, Feb. 09, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Jamie Anderson of the United States celebrates on the way to the flower ceremony after winning the women's snowboard slopestyle final at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 9, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Andy Wong/AP Photo Switzerland's Dario Cologna celebrates winning the gold medal as Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby, center, and Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin, right, follow during the men's cross-country 30k skiathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 9, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.

Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo Irene Wust of the Netherlands celebrates after the Women's 3000m Speed Skating event during day 2 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Adler Arena Skating Center, Feb. 9, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Gold medalist Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen celebrates on the podium the Men's Biathlon 10 km Sprint Flower Ceremony at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 8, 2014 in Rosa Khutor. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images Marit Bjoergen of Norway takes 1st place, Charlotte Kalla of Sweden takes 2nd place, Heidi Weng of Norway takes 3rd place during the Cross-Country Women's Skiathlon at the Laura Cross-country Ski &amp; Biathlon Center, Feb. 08, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Vianney Thibaut/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Silver medalist Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Canada, left, and gold medalist Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada congratulate each other during the flower ceremony following the Ladies' Moguls Final at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 8, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images United States' Sage Kotsenburg is carried by Norway's Staale Sandbech after Kotsenburg won the men's snowboard slopestyle final at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 8, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Andy Wong/AP Photo Sven Kramer of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the gold in the men's 5,000-meter speedskating race at the Adler Arena Skating Center at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 8, 2014.

Matt Dunham/AP Photo Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi Winter Olympics gold for Britain in skeleton | Sport | The Guardian Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi Winter Olympics gold for Britain in skeleton • British hope secures first place with final two runs • Yarnold's success brings Britain's first gold in Sochi Friday 14 February 2014 12.32 EST First published on Friday 14 February 2014 12.32 EST Close This article is 2 years old Take off the headphones. Walk slowly out of the changing rooms. Click-clack across the wooden decking. On to the track. Off with the galoshes and then the outerwear, always in the same order. Bend down to the sled, then 16 explosive strides in less than five seconds. Fix your eyes on the first corner. Deep breath. Relax. Lizzy Yarnold , now one of just five British athletes to win individual gold medals in 90 years of the Winter Games, already knew what it would be like to win on the track at Sochi's Sanki Sliding Centre because she had visualised it endlessly.

Every one of the 17 corners on the 1500m track. Over and over again, despite only a handful of training runs. Just as she obsessively visualised every corner before every race during her World Cup winning season, in which she won four and finished on the podium in all but one. It was that combination of serenity and intense focus that saw her deal with the overnight pressure heaped onto her by rivals and an expectant nation and extend a lead of 0.44sec to 0.78seconds following her third run, breaking her own track record. And then to extend it again to almost a full second (0.97) on her fourth, finishing with a total time of 3.52.89. Between her third and fourth runs she could be spotted wandering around behind the scenes in red Team GB bobble hat, seemingly without a care in the world. From the moment the build up to Sochi began, she has exuded calm and control.

"I knew I had 78 hundredths lead on Noelle [Pikus-Pace, who won silver] but when you start the run it is just like any training run, my processes are exactly the same, my coach is there like normal, and I just knew I should enjoy it and embrace the whole occasion," she said. "I let the sled run a little bit more than I would usually and I just relaxed and loved it. I knew I could really go for it on that last run." What she won't have visualised is the hurricane of attention about to hit her as the winner of just the 10th gold medal claimed by Britain in winter sport. Even that is unlikely to faze an athlete so controlled she was able to remember a Valentine's card her boyfriend, James Roche, who is part of the coaching team, to hand to him after winning gold. David Cameron (@David_Cameron) February 14, 2014 Yarnold's victory continues a streak that stretches back to 2002, when Royal Air Force intelligence officer Alex Coomber won bronze after training in supermarket car parks on a sled customised with skateboard wheels.

Shelley Rudman, who on Friday night finished 16th, won silver in Turin 2006. And Williams, now Yarnold's landlord in Bath, went one better in 2010 as part of what was now a very professional operation. Despite the pedigree, Yarnold's rise has been unusually rapid. Less than four years after switching from heptathlon to skeleton at 19, she won only her second World Cup race in St Moritz and one week later was crowned world junior champion. "It's hard work and dedication, I've been training after school since I was 13, and maybe I'm naturally good at skeleton," she said. "I always have high expectations of myself, I always secretly intended to come to Sochi, it was my goal. But to win the whole race is far beyond my expectations." No other nation without a track has ever won skeleton gold but Britain has become one of the best in the world with just a gym and a 140m "push track".

The unprepossessing centre of the operation at Bath University, overseen by the team manager, Dave Moy, belies the sophistication of a system honed over 12 years and three Olympic cycles into a medal winning machine. Formula One team McClaren, where Yarnold's boyfriend Roche works, is among those pulled in to provide assistance from its Bond-like minimalist HQ in Woking. But a large chunk of the £3.4m poured into the sport over four years goes on transporting the team around the world and technology to video the various tracks, which is then analysed and learned off by heart by the sliders. Because they have no track of their own, Britain's sliders have become adept at learning others. Yarnold has proved almost supernaturally brilliant at doing so. The Kentish farmer's daughter's latent talent for hurling herself down the ice at up to 90mph was discovered by a Girls4Gold talent spotting scheme run by UK Sport. The first such scheme, Sporting Giants, discovered Helen Glover, who went on to win Britain's first gold of the London Games in the coxless pairs with Heather Stanning. The second, Girls4Gold, has now delivered on its title ahead of schedule.

The Team GB chef de mission, Mike Hay, said Yarnold was "an athlete at the very top of her game". He added: "Through hard work, determination, unwavering self-belief and an outstanding support system, Lizzy has earned a titles very few athletes can claim – she is the Olympic champion." It was just five years ago that Yarnold experienced her first "thrilling" slide down the Lillehammer track from the third corner in a makeshift kit of running spikes, ski goggles and elbow pads fashioned out of foam camping mats. She wanted another go straight away. This year, she finished as World Cup winner and went into the Olympics as hot favourite. Like other successful athletes – Sir Ben Ainslie springs to mind – Yarnold talks about having one personality off the track (mild-mannered Lizzy who likes gossiping, knitting and The Archers) and another on it (The Yarnold – steely, determined, single-minded). But listen to Yarnold describe her sliding style, which involves steering with her toes and feeling the track through her body, and you soon realise that this adrenaline-fuelled sport is as much about feel as brute force.

"You have to be quite gentle, especially in Sochi because there is a bit of a camber so even though you think you can see what is going on you also have to feel through your body." Yarnold has learned to have "total faith" in "the system". "It is not only myself bringing me into the groove, it is the whole team around me," she says. It is a groove she effortlessly slid into in Sochi, adding her name to a proud lineage of female medallists in what has become an unlikely and enduring British sporting success story. Rolling report: Russia beat the USA in a dramatic men’s ice hockey shootout and Poland’s Kamil Stoch won gold in the men’s ski jump.

Published: 15 Feb 2014 Deep house music, knitting, F1 engineering - and a huge dose of mental toughness - help 'The Yarnold' to Sochi victory Published: 14 Feb 2014 TJ Oshie scored four times in the shootout and got the winner in the eighth round in the thrilling revival of an Olympic hockey rivalry Published: 15 Feb 2014 Rolling report: It was an action packed day in Sochi that was noted for Lizzy Yarnold winning Britain’s first gold of the Winter Olympics Published: 14 Feb 2014 Olympics-Skeleton at the Sochi Winter Games Olympics-Skeleton at the Sochi Winter Games Jan 31 (Reuters) - Here are the main facts about skeleton at the Sochi Winter Olympics. THE COMPETITION There are only two gold medals to be won in skeleton. Each athlete completes a total of four runs with the winner having the lowest overall time. If two athletes complete the competition in a tie, they are awarded the same place. HISTORY Skeleton has twice been included in the Winter Olympics in the country where it originated, at the Games in St.

Moritz in 1928 and 1948. However, skeleton was then dropped from the programme and not re-adopted as an Olympic discipline until the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Amy Williams's victory in the women's event gave Britain its only medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as its first individual gold medallist since 1980. THE VENUE The Olympic track at the Sanki Sliding Centre winds its way across the northern slope of the Aibga Ridge with a finishing area located in Rzhanaya Polyana. The overall length of the track is 1,814 metres, 314 of which is taken up by the braking area. There are 17 curves with a vertical drop of some 132m from top to bottom, with its highest point being located at 836m above sea level and its lowest point at 704m. There are three negative slopes to slow competitors down - with safety as the primary concern following the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

THE CONTENDERS Latvian Martins Dukurs starts as hot favourite to go one better than his silver medal four years ago having dominated the sport since then - winning five successive World Cup titles. His older brother Tomass is another leading contender along with American Matt Antoine and Russian Alexander Tretiakov. Britons Lizzy Yarnold, the World Cup winner, and Shelley Rudman, the 2006 Games silver medallist, bid to emulate compatriot and now retired Williams in taking women's skeleton gold. American Noelle Pikus-Pace has gone toe-to-toe with Yarnold this season and has the form to take the title. (Compiled by Justin Palmer; Editing by Julien Pretot) Reblog Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain - BBC Sport BBC Sport Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter in Sochi 14 Feb 2014 From the section Winter Olympics Share this page Read more about sharing. Lizzy Yarnold won Great Britain's first gold medal of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics after dominating the women's skeleton from start to finish.

Yarnold, 25, produced a solid final run to finish 0.97 seconds ahead of Noelle Pikus-Pace of United States. Britain's Winter Olympic gold medallists 1924: Men (curling) 1952: Jeannette Altwegg (figure skating) 1964: Tony Nash & Robin Dixon (two-man bobsleigh) 1976: John Curry (figure skating) 1980: Robin Cousins (figure skating) 1984: Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean (figure skating) 2002: Women (curling) 2014: Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton) * Madge Syers won figure skating gold at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London Britain claimed the skeleton title for the second successive Winter Olympics after Amy Williams won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games. It is Britain's second medal in Sochi and 10th gold in Winter Games history. Britain's reigning world champion Shelley Rudman, who won silver at the 2006 Olympics, finished 16th.

Yarnold led after every round of the competition and held a 0.44 second advantage after the first two runs on Thursday. She extended that to 0.78 secs after setting a new track record in Friday's third run before finishing in a total of three minutes, 52.89 seconds, ahead of Pikus-Pace and bronze medallist Elena Nikitina of Russia. "I'm just so chuffed I'm Olympic champion," Yarnold told BBC Sport. "My fourth run I was totally relaxed and enjoyed it. It was a bit of a messy one but I'm just so thrilled I got myself here after five years hard work. "As an athlete you do so much hard work, but it's worth it for days like this." UK Sport set Team GB the challenge of securing three medals in Sochi, whilst predicting they could claim up to seven. After Jenny Jones won snowboard slopestyle bronze on Sunday, Great Britain is now edging closer to their minimum target. Yarnold's success means British Skeleton maintained its proud tradition of securing a medal in each of the six Olympic Games the sport has featured in, dating back to 1928.

She grew up in Kent and competed in heptathlon events as a child, having been inspired to take up the sport by watching Denise Lewis win Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games. Analysis "Lizzy Yarnold is unique. She has something different within her psychologically. Within five years of starting she has become an Olympic champion, and that is pretty much unheard of in any sport. "She experienced intensive teaching in the first year, doing hundreds of run with great equipment and coaching. You have to be taught how to slide, then you are developed from there as quickly as possible into a champion." Yarnold took up skeleton in 2008 after being recruited through UK Sport-backed talented identification programme 'Girls4Gold'. Last month she won the overall Skeleton World Cup title after setting a British record of seven podium finishes in a season. Her medal will be presented at a ceremony at the Olympic Park at 16:30 GMT on Saturday. Pikus-Pace, 31, who was fourth at the Vancouver Games and now plans to retire from the sport, revealed that she suffered a black-out on the course last Wednesday.

The mother-of-two lost consciousness and had to go for an MRI scan last Friday, missing several training sessions in the process. "I couldn't hear or see when I got to the bottom and it was a bit scary," she said. "But I don't want to take anything away from Lizzy's win. I was fine today and she was brilliant." Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold: Britain falls in love with new Winter Olympics skeleton champion - Telegraph Winter Olympics Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold: Britain falls in love with new Winter Olympics skeleton champion Thirty years to the day after Torvill and Dean’s gold in Sarajevo, 25 year-old from Kent succeeds her landlady Amy Williams as women's skeleton champion Follow She joked that there was “romance in the air”, and Lizzy Yarnold cemented Britain’s love affair with the Olympics on Friday night as she blitzed the field in the skeleton bob to claim Britain’s first gold medal of Sochi 2014.

Thirty years to the day after Torvill and Dean’s gold medal in Sarajevo, the 25 year-old from Kent succeeded her landlady Amy Williams, who won the same event in Vancouver four years ago, by sliding to victory almost a second ahead of her nearest rival. Lizzy: “I just believed in myself, I knew I could do it if I put in the hard work and the dedication, and I have” (PA) Never one to get carried away by the occasion, she pronounced herself “chuffed” to have struck gold as she clutched a Valentine’s Day card for her boyfriend, James Roche, a technician with the British bobsleigh team. “I showed the world what I am capable of and I wanted to do myself justice and I really can’t believe I won that,” she said. “It’s lovely that it’s Valentine’s Day today as well, there’s lots of romance in the air and my mum and dad coming to watch me, my sisters, my best friends, everyone’s here that I can share it with.

Related Articles Yarnold's helping hand from Mervyn 14 Feb 2014 “I just believed in myself, I knew I could do it if I put in the hard work and the dedication, and I have.” Yarnold’s parents, Judith and Clive, described themselves as “amazingly proud”. “I’m lost for words, completely lost for words,” Mrs Yarnold said. “It’s been the most exciting day of our lives but you didn’t know until the last second. Something could have changed, anything could have changed. But she’s so calm, cool, collected, professional. Lizzy just knew where she was going.” Mr Yarnold added: “We’re just coming to terms with our daughter having just won a gold medal and not wanting to mention the 'gold’ word before. Now we can actually say, 'We have a daughter with a gold medal’.” David Cameron was among the first back home to congratulate her for her “amazing gold”.

But perhaps the proudest person watching on television was Mervyn Sugden, the retired insurance underwriter from Haslemere, Surrey, after whom Yarnold’s tea-tray sled is named and who started her on the road to Olympic glory. Lizzy blitzed the field in the skeleton bob (AFP) The rich tradition of British skeleton bob goes back more than a decade. But when Alex Coomber claimed bronze in the inaugural event in 2002 and when Shelly Rudman won silver in Turin in 2006, Yarnold was not watching. Even in 2008, when she attended a UK Sport talent day at Loughborough University, she did not choose the skeleton, it chose her. Eventually, she took to the ice and discovered a natural aptitude for it. But for the first few years, she received no direct funding and was reliant on a grant from the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme and a summer job at Hardy Underwriting, a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London. It was there that she met Mr Sugden. “She was a full-time student, a full-time athlete, and virtually working full time as well,” he recalled.

“I knew the skeleton team was very good, so I did a little more research, asked her what her aims and ambitions were. She came up with a remarkable speech in the lift that said everything you needed to know about her ambition and focus. “The number of people at that age who have that complete dedication is very rare. As far as I was concerned, someone with that commitment deserved support. So I gave her a little envelope with her money in it.” The envelope contained £176 – the amount Yarnold needed for a special bag to carry her sled runners. Mr Sugden helped to establish a sponsorship deal between Lloyd’s and British Skeleton worth around £100,000. The value of this becomes apparent when you consider what an expensive sport skeleton is. The first problem is that there are only 16 internationally sanctioned skeleton bob tracks in the world. Britain is not one of them. Once you have factored the cost of flying everyone to Norway or Germany or Latvia or wherever, actually using the track costs about £450 per run. The sleds cost around £10,000 each, which you can multiply by 10 to factor in the cost of research, development and testing.

Skeleton is an individual sport won by teams, so Yarnold’s first thought at the moment of victory was to thank the people who got her there: her support staff, her family and those who followed her to Russia — the “Yarny Army”. Stardom awaits the quiet, unstarry Yarnold, who lists grime music and The Archers — which has now invited her to make a guest appearance — among her diverse interests. Back in Haslemere, meanwhile, Mr Sugden was wondering whether her other talents might now be put to use. “She was working in the catastrophe modelling team,” he said. “I don’t know whether she can tell us when it’s going to stop raining.”

Question: Who won a gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in the women's skeleton bob?
Answer: Lizzie Yarnold